FIVE things you need to know about the big PSTN/ISDN switch-off

You may not have heard about it in amongst the COVID-19 and Brexit news headlines, but big changes are coming in the telecoms world, with the switch-off of the Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) network scheduled for 2025.
Why is this so important? Because it represents one of the biggest events in the history of the UK telephone system, with the millions of miles of copper telephone wire criss-crossing the UK being made redundant and being replaced by the fibre-borne internet, affecting the way in which companies and homes across the country communicate.

It means that the traditional analogue voice service that we all grew up with - pips, dialling tone and all - will be obsolete in just four years' time, along with everything else that relies on the telephone system, with the internet taking over.

Here are FIVE facts about the big switch-off - and why your business needs to get ready:

1. The PSTN forms a large proportion of the UK infrastructure and supports traditional voice calls on a rented line, ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) as well as broadband products, lifts, alarms and card payment machines. These network services are provided by OpenReach, which then sells them onto third party providers who buy them on behalf of their own clients.
2. The PSTN has been used since 1876 and comprises of 192 million kilometres of network cable, 110,000 kerbside cabinets, and 4.9m telephone poles and junction boxes across the UK. This is all becoming too expensive to maintain while many of its skilled technicians are retiring. Instead, OpenReach is upgrading the lines to digital fibre services, sending communications via the internet rather than electrical wires.
3. Firms are likely to be most affected through their ISDN usage, either through ISDN2 or ISDN30, which allows them to receive concurrent calls at the same time. Companies which do have an ISDN line through traditional means will have to switch over to VOIP (Voice Operated Internet Protocol), which requires an internet connection, by December 2025.
4. The alternatives to ISDN include SIP which stands for Session Initiation Protocol, which allows you to conduct voice calls between different numbers of people via your IP address. Other alternatives are Hybrid Phone System, Hosted Phone System, IP Phone System, all of which offer varying degrees of control on how and where you host your phone system.
5. Companies will not be able to buy extra ISDN lines from September 2023, so anyone planning to expand their business - and increase the number of phone lines they use - should look at the alternatives now.
   In fact, everyone should review their telephone systems now, or as soon as possible, because the switch-over is such a huge undertaking - not helped by the COVID crisis - that they could instead find themselves caught up in any delays to the programme.

Invictus Group can help you too, of course, so don't hesitate to get in touch. We can assess your needs and give you the best advice as to how you can get ready for the big switch-over in three years' time.